Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America

What would it take?

That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children—not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children's Zone, a ninety-seven-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America. His conclusion: if you want poor kids to be able to compete with their middle-class peers, you need to change everything in their lives—their schools, their neighborhoods, even the child-rearing practices of their parents.

Whatever It Takes is a tour de force of reporting, an inspired portrait not only of Geoffrey Canada but also of the parents and children in Harlem who are struggling to better their lives, often against great odds. Carefully researched and deeply affecting, this is a dispatch from inside the most daring and potentially transformative social experiment of our time.

"As Paul Tough shows, Canada is a man . . . who knows what it takes to ensure that every child has a fair shot in life." —Bill Clinton

"Changed my understanding of poverty in America it . . . made me feel hopeful." —Ira Glass

"Outstanding." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"A remarkable book." — Gentleman's Quarterly

"This unflinching book will motivate us all to take action and make our schools places of possibility and hope." — Essence